Laura,

You are right; I did come across as cranky in that post, but was trying not to get verbose because I think I would have really gotten even crankier. 

I get dismayed when I see undue attention paid to the genitals when it's a medical situation that should be dealt with, and it's a medical situation of a little girl going through precocious puberty that I saw in Kris' post.  Yet, rather than being concerned about why her little girl is growing pubic hair, there was a frantic post from a mother about whether her little girl's clitoris is too big.  Whether Kris' daughter's clitoris is large or not large is really beside the point if she has an underlying medical situation in need of attention. 

One of the unfortunate aspects of CAH in little girls is that way too much undue attention is paid to the genitals.  It's this undue attention that ends up with little girls getting their genitals mutilated by some well-meaning doctor trying to sooth the fears of the parent.  It's also this undue attention that leaves many--boys and girls--with CAH feeling very violated after a childhood of many "look-sees" by countless doctors, their nurses, and their interns.  When all is said and done, it's not unlike a childhood tainted by sexual abuse. 

So, yes I could have been kinder in my message, and tried to soften it up some,  but doing so would only have put the spotlight on Kris's fears.  There's not a child in the world that has died as a result of a clitoris that is considered by some to be big.

As a quick aside, I want to share a thought I had while typing this that is kind of relevant, but not directly so, and I leave it to you to find the link.  A few years back, I was in a horrible bicycle accident.  I came close to tearing my left arm off of my body and broke my pelvis.  They ended up replacing the clavicle and shoulder with cadaver bone on a second surgery because my body rejected the original hardware they used to put me back together again.  During my recovery (8 months in a body brace), I would often have cortisone shots into the shoulder to keep the inflammation down.  If you ever had one, you know how much they hurt.  If you never have, trust me, they hurt in a big way. Imagine that pain being two or three times as worse because all of the tissue is already so traumatized.  The first time I had one, I asked the doctor if it would hurt and his response was, "Nope, it won't hurt...it won't hurt me at all"

All that undue attention paid to a child's genitals doesn't hurt the doctor at all, and it won't hurt the parent, but I can almost guarantee it will hurt the child who probably doesn't have a voice in her own treatment.

Best, as always...